After what had felt like an eternity during the Winterpause, FC Bayern finally returned to Bundesliga action in a mouth-watering top-two clash with VfL Wolfsburg at the Volkswagen Arena – with the Wolves hoping to narrow the gap at the top of the table and Pep Guardiola’s unbeaten side looking to kick off the Rückrunde by extending their unbeaten record. The Red Dragons London also returned to their Stammtisch in excellent spirits, but by the end of the evening many were left scratching their heads after what was an insipid performance by Die Roten. In short, it had been nothing short of a mauling by the ravenous Wolves.
The buildup to game inside the stadium had begun on an emotional note, with a minute of continuous applause for Wolfsburg’s Belgian striker Junior Malanda – the tragic victim of a motor accident earlier in the month. The Red Dragons then joined fellow Bayern fans in the ground in maintaining an extended five minutes of silence for Fabi, a well-known member of the Schickeria who also sadly passed away during the winter break.
With both Frank Ribéry and Rafinha being added to the long injury list Bayern were still unable to field their best starting eleven, but on the plus side Austrian David Alaba was able to take to the field after a lengthy absence. Guardiola’s starting formation saw the versatile Sebastian Rode filling in at right back in a four-man defence alongside Jérôme Boateng, Danté and Juan Bernat, a three-man midfield with skipper Bastian Schweinsteiger joining Alaba and Xabi Alonso, while up front Arjen Robben and Thomas Müller accompanying Robert Lewandowski.
Despite Bayern’s potent attacking lineup the home side were fastest off the blocks, and before the Rückrunde had even begun Wolfsburg were in front. With just four minutes on the clock a Bayern move broke down, and the men in green broke effectively to take advantage of the gaping holes at the back. As the defence desperately tried to make their way back Daniel Caligiuri found de Bruyne, who calmly slipped the ball through for Dutchman Bas Dost who executed the perfect finish to beat a helpless Manuel Neuer.
After being rocked by the early goal Bayern slowly started to gain a foothold, but for all their possession were unable to create any genuine chances with Wolves’ Diego Benaglio given a couple of opportunities to gently warm his gloves. While Bayern were allowed to keep and pass the ball around in their own half, any effort to move forward with any purpose was quickly quelled by the home side’s smart defending.
Bayern should really have seen things through to half time just the one goal down, but a reckless challenge from Danté gave the home side one last roll of the dice before half-time. There was a sense of inevitability as Swiss international Ricardo Rodriguez’s free-kick towards Robin Knoche was only half-cleared by Lewandowski, setting up Dost who lashed in a delicious second with the outside of his right boot. Again, Neuer had no chance as the ball swerved away from him before pinging off the inside of the far post.
For the first time in what seemed like ages Bayern had been made to sweat by a domestic opponent, and at the start of the second half it was clear that Wolfsburg were not going to be content to just sit on their lead. Guardiola replaced the out of sorts Rode with Mitchell Weiser as he looked to inject more energy into the visitors’ game, but within two minutes Wolfsburg scored a third. Max Arnold found the charging de Bruyne with the Bayern defence again caught completely cold, with the Belgian executing the coolest of finishes.
Not since the Champions’ League disaster against Real Madrid at the end of the 2013/14 season had Bayern been so comprehensively outplayed, and their hosts’ third goal seemed to spark them into life. Within two minutes of de Bruyne’s goal Bayern had cut the deficit back to two, with Juan Bernat finally breaking his duck. There was more than a little luck about the finish with the Spaniard taking advantage of the flat-footed Naldo to score at the second time of asking, and with more than half an hour remaining there was still hope of turning things around.
As the game started to open up there were chances for both sides. Arnold should arguably have finished things off for Dieter Hecking’s men only to flash his shot high over the bar, while Bayern came agonisingly close to pulling back another when the otherwise subdued Robben was brilliantly denied by a flying Benaglio.
This was as good as it got however, as within two minutes de Bruyne effectively killed the game off. Once again the Bayern defence went on walkabout, leaving the Belgian up against last man Danté. The Brazilian tried his hardest to put off the fleet-footed Tintin lookalike, but there was no denying the de Bruyne as he lashed the ball past Neuer to score number four. Substitute Claudio Pizarro could only send his shot over the bar as Bayern sought a late consolation, but the final whistle could not have come soon enough for the beleaguered defending champions.
The scoreboard at the VW-Arena: not something we want to see any time soon
While Bayern had looked flat and short of ideas for most of the match, the memory of their former team mate no doubt played a part in Wolfsburg’s energetic and intelligent performance, with Malanda’s countryman and friend Kevin de Bruyne turning out a passionate and polished display as the visitors were put to the sword – conceding just as many goals in ninety torrid minutes as they had down in all seventeen games of the Hinrunde.
The 4-1 defeat sees Bayern’s lead cut back to eight points, with the next game just around the corner in midweek against fourth-placed Schalke 04.
Bundesliga Week 18
Volkswagen Arena, Wolfsburg, 30.01.2015
VfL Wolfsburg 4:1 (2:0) FC Bayern
Dost 4., 45.+2., De Bruyne 53., 73. / Bernat 55.
Wolfsburg: Benaglio (c) – Vieirinha, Naldo, Knoche, Rodriguez – Arnold, Luiz Gustavo – D. Caligiuri (86. Hunt), De Bruyne, Perišić (81. M. Schäfer) – Dost (83. Bendtner)
FC Bayern: Neuer – Rode (51. Weiser), Boateng, Danté, Bernat – Alonso – Robben, Schweinsteiger (c), Alaba, Müller (71. Götze) – Lewandowski (71. Pizarro)
Yellow Cards: Arnold, Luiz Gustavo / Alonso, Schweinsteiger